Struggles of School and War
by justagirlwholikestowrite
Summary: The Marauders have to deal with the division that comes with wartime and the struggles of school as graduation looms nearer. A Remus Lupin Full Moon story.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi! This was originally supposed to be part of a one shot fic that I'm working on but I got a bit carried away and now it's too big. I'm uploading it today because of tonight's super red wolf moon. Enjoy! (Comments and feedback are always** **appreciated!**

November 1977

The stone floors were cold and the corridors empty, but laughter and warm candle light flooded an old third floor charms classroom. Technically the four boys inside were out way past curfew on a school night. At least, half the boys were. Remus and James were on night patrol duty as prefect and head boy, and Sirius and Peter had tagged along for fun. Remus was supposed to be on prefect watch with Lily, but James had offered to take her place since he would be busy on his scheduled night. Busy breaking school rules and wizarding laws, that is, running around as an illegal animagus, and out of school bounds past curfew with a werewolf.

Said werewolf was currently beating him in a pushup competition.

Sirius roared with laughter as Peter kept time on his watch. "C'mon Jamie, he's destroying you!" he wheezed out.

"Ten more seconds," added Peter

James desperately tried to go faster while Peter and Sirius doubled over with laughter. The sight before them was indeed so ridiculous that one couldn't help but laugh.

It was one of _those_ days; three days before the full moon and Remus had been a riot all day. Usually meek and quiet, at this time of the month he was rowdy and boisterous. This morning at breakfast he had made all the teacups at the Professor's table sing Bohemian Rhapsody. During afternoon break he had given up study time to go on a run. At dinner there was an encore of You Should Be Dancing. When time came for evening watch he hadn't protested Sirius and Peter tagging along, rather he encouraged it by tossing them the invisibility cloak as he left the dorm. Upon reaching the charms classroom, James had challenged him to a pushup competition, and in a very un-Remus-y turn of events, he took off his shirt and tossed it to the ground, revealing his scars which he had just finally become comfortable showing around his friends.

"3...2...1! Time"

" 54," stuttered James

Remus smirked, "72"

"Lupin, you're an animal!" yelled Sirius.

Remus smirked, "More of a beast I think,"

"It's that damn six-pack," added James jealously, after all, he was the athlete for christ's sake! The thought of him losing a competition of strength to Remus, who never lifted anything heavier than his books, would be risible to anyone who didn't know the truth.

"Couldn't get rid of it if I tried," he drawled. "Peter, anything on the map?"

The use of the marauder's map had made night patrols obsolete, as they knew the wherebouts of every student, professor, and most importantly, Filch.

"Everything's good on Gryffindor's side,"

"And on Slytherin's?" inquired James.

After scanning for a minute Peter raised his eyebrows, "Wilkes and Rosier aren't prefects are they?" he asked with a smirk

Remus grabbed his shirt off the floor and wrestled into it, "Nope," a devious smile broke out on his face, "seems like they're breaking curfew."

"What about an Amanda Hayes? Looks like they're about to meet up right outside the kitchens. "

Remus's smile fell. "She's a first year Hufflepuff."

A silence seemed to freeze the air. "Shit" They all exclaimed at once- and were off.

They dashed to a classroom three doors down-another room that had been abandoned to time-and went to the bookshelf in the back. James pointed his wand at it, "Revelio," he whispered, and it slid away to reveal a tunnel. The boys ran to the end which opened into a cupboard next to the first floor bathroom. They hurried to the kitchens, slowing down as they approached to hear what may be happening. In each of their hands they clutched their wands.

"Thought you would just steal some food to take back to your other mudblood friends, huh?" one drawled.

"I-I didn't mean to cause any harm, I j-just couldn't sleep-" a small voice stuttered

"Cut your snivelling," another one ordered. "You're lucky you're even here. Give it another few years and we'll make sure your filth isn't allowed at this school anymore."The girl's sobs echoed around the stone walls. "You shouldn't even get to breath the same air as us, yet alone eat our food."

The girl's, sob's became muffled, as if a barrier had been put up. "How much air has she got in that?" asked a voice that was all too familiar to the marauders.

James's eyes narrowed, "Snape," he whispered. While the boys had never liked each other, since starting to date Lily James and Severus's relationship had become nothing less than pure hatred.

"With the way she's screaming probably two, three minutes before she passes out," replied the caster nonchalantly.

James and Sirius moved to reveal themselves from their hiding spot, but Remus was way ahead of them. Before they had gotten a chance to so much as move he had walked up to Rosier, who had his wand out and was staring at Amanda with gleeful eyes, and punched him square in the face. A knee to the stomach forced him to double over, and while there he ended up in a full body bind.

Sirius and James were battling their opponents. Wilkes' shoes were stuck to the floor, yet he still pivoted to aim jinxes at Sirius, who masterfully evaded them. Remus turned and gave Wilkes a hard punch to the ribs, giving Sirius time to stupefy him. James and Snape were staring at each other with pure loathing while dueling. Snape had boils erupting on his left arm and James had a nasty burn on his shoulder. Snape was about to cast another spell when James flicked his wand, causing him to make a gagging noise while his tongue became stuck to the roof of his mouth. With another flick and a bolt of red light, he collapsed on the ground, stunned. In the meantime Peter had run over to Amanda and popped the small air bubble which had encompassed her head. She sobbed into his shoulders.

James approached her gently, "Are you ok?"

She nodded her head forcefully, her body still racking with sobs.

"Do you want us to take you to Madam Pomfrey for some calming draught?" asked Peter.

"No- no I'll be o-ok. I just want to go to bed," she cried.

"Head on back," encouraged Remus, "we'll make sure you're not bothered again."

As the little girl ran off Sirius looked at the three boys on the floor with pure fire in his eyes. "Pity we didn't break their noses," he said, eyes lingering over Rosier's bloody face.

Remus grimaced at Wilkes and stepped on his nose-hard, not bothering to flinch at the resounding crack. "Didn't we?"

The boys stared at Remus in awe-even James wouldn't be that ballsy. As they headed back to their dormitory Sirius clapped his hand on Remus's back, "I swear Lupin, you're an absolute animal!"


	2. Chapter 2

At breakfast the next day Sirius excitedly recounted last night's story at the table. "Ladies, I know you wouldn't think it, but he _destroyed_ him. Don't let the quidditch uniform fool you but James was _crushed_ by little ol' Remus here."

Remus smiled sheepishly while nibbling on a sausage. The full moon was drawing nearer and even though he was grateful to his friends for dragging him out of bed, he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"I'd believe it," replied Lily, who was fiddling with James's hair while eating an apple. "I'm not dating him for his athletisism. I can carry my own books you know,"

James pecked her on the cheek, "Good because I hate that arithmetic book of yours. I swear it weighs five pounds."

"You disgust me," sniggered Sirius, staring at the affectionate couple.

James starred pointedly back at Sirius, whose arm was wrapped tightly around Marlene's waist. Sirius just shrugged.

"Did anything else happen last night boys?" asked Dorcas. Her eyes were fixed at the Slytherin table, where Wilkes and Rosier- who both had heavy bandages over their noses- were glaring at Remus's back.

James, Sirius, and Remus were all silent. No one wanted to be the one to bring up Severus. Even though Lily hadn't spoken to him in over a year and she had long since stopped yelling at the boys for fighting with him, it was still a sore subject for her. It was Peter who saved them, "Yeah, we ran into some Slytherins going after a firstie near the kitchens. Nasty spell work too. Remus put 'em in their place."

Even though his name wasn't mentioned, everyone knew who _those_ Slytherins were. The type who would attack first years for the fun of it, who weren't pleased until they cried to go back home to their muggle parents. The kids who idolized Voldemort and his regime, who were more interested in the dark arts than the defense against them, and who wore their blood status like a crown. They were the Gryffindors' natural enemies. Severus was one of them.

Lily's eyes narrowed, "Reckon they'll pull anything?"

James pulled her closer to him, "I doubt it, not with a Hogsmeade trip on the line."

Peter snickered, "Yeah, they haven't figured out how to go whenever they please."

"And Hogwarts mail is more regulated than stuff that comes into Hogsmeade," added Sirius darkly. People could only speculate what type of mail made it so that the Hogsmeade post office was always crammed with sixth and seventh year Slytherins, but it put everyone on edge. It was one thing to think that the kids who you had gone to school with for six years had opposite values than yours, but to see them actively join a leader who threatened to destroy the wizarding world as you knew it was another.

"I swear, as soon as we're out of this school we're gonna do something," muttered Dorcas, "we're gonna fight."

Remus spent the next day in the hospital wing sleeping before the iminent transformation. James, Peter, and Sirius were gathered around him quietly doing homework and preparing for the long night ahead. Winter nights were longer and while November certainly wasn't as bad as January it certainly made everyone miss those short August nights when the night was over before anything bad could happen.

At 4 o'clock Madam Pomfrey came to rouse Remus from his sleep and to clear the boys off, "Come on now, you better leave," she said, shooing them away.

"No problem," replied James.

"See you tomorrow, mate," said Sirius with a wink.

Peter grabbed their bags and the three boys all returned to their dormitory without any hassle.

While Madam Pomfrey gathered Remus and began to lead him down to the Whomping Willow, the marauders prepared for a night of werewolf wrangling. The boys went down to the common room, where Lily, Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice were gathered around the fireplace. James walked up to Lily and whispered in her ear, "We're heading out now."

Lily gave him a peck on the cheek, "Send him my love in the morning, will you? And be careful."

The boys left the common room and Peter transformed into a rat and sat on James's shoulder. James and Sirius were just able to fit under the invisibility cloak if they bent their knees. The boys snuck downstairs and slipped outside into the cool air. The sky was becoming darker by the second and the boys began to run. It was crucial that they were already in the house and transformed by the time Moony appeared, or else they were just human snacks. Peter ran ahead and froze the branches of the tree, allowing James and Sirius to slip under. James stuffed the invisibility cloak into his magically enlarged pocket, and the boys began the long walk to the most haunted house in Britain.

Remus could hear his friends before he could see them. The old house creaked and he listened to them climb the flight of stairs before they walked into the room where he usually chose to park himself. He was sitting in a ripped armchair in what had once been a grand parlor, shivering as beads of sweat dripped down his face. His toes felt numb and every breath felt rattled in his chest as if his lungs had been frozen. The dirty floor had collected a layer of dust in the past month, but it couldn't cover the layers of dried blood.

"Hey Remus," said Peter softly as he pushed the door open.

Remus gave a weak smile in response.

James collapsed into another one of the disfigured chairs. "You're okay with going into the forest, right? Maybe Hogsmeade?"

He have a heavy sigh and replied tiredly, "It doesn't matter what I'm okay with, it's all up to _it._ But maybe not the village." Remus was breathing heavily.

"Mate, you alright? Do you have time?"

Remus shook his head and immediately regretted it. He grabbed at his hair as the world began to spin. " Long night, harder for you guys to control," he gasped out.

Sirius added in, "Don't worry, we've got this-"

Before he could finish his sentence Remus crumpled like paper in his chair and collapsed onto the floor on all fours. He twitched-one, two, three, times- and James, Sirius, and Peter instantly transformed.

Remus's face scrunched with pain and he squeezed his eyes shut as his skeleton began to rattle in his body. His hips popped up and back and he groaned in pain, knowing that worse was yet to him. A guttural cry escaped when his knees inverted themselves. The pain was everywhere, it was all consuming, he couldn't think, couldn't breath, could only scream and scream and scream because it wasn't just pain, it was torture. He felt the white hot pain in his shoulders like someone had taken a thick, white hot needle and was lacing between his shoulder blades. He cried in agony as the invisible string was pulled tight and his shoulders pulled behind him. His shrieks of anguish echoed against the walls, forcing his friends to look away from his solitary torment. White splotches as bright as the moon floated in his vision He could feel his nose and mouth elongate by the way the scent of dried blood came into sharp focus and the rattling in his head told him that his ears had moved to the top of his head as well. He howled in pain till Remus didn't know who he was, what there was besides the pain, or how to make it stop. He yelled until Remus was gone and all that was left was the wolf.

When Remus came to he could feel his brain pounding in his too-small skull. Someone had draped a blanket over him- probably James. He felt like he had been crushed under a boulder and he couldn't move even if he tried. Light and noise filtered through his senses like a kaleidoscope. His shoulders still felt like they had been sewn together and he groaned in pain- even that hurt his throat.

Peter was beside him in an instant "You back Remus?" He sounded distorted and far away and Remus tried to use his voice as an anchor to keep him from drifting off to sleep.

He gave another little groan.

"Pomfrey's gonna be here any minute, we gotta go, but we'll visit later"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I really enjoyed writing it and would love some feedback. Enjoy!

The next morning during classes no one would have suspected that Remus was recovering from anything more serious than a cold as he sat with perfect posture and kept rapt attention during all of his classes. He took immaculate notes, and only stopped every twenty minutes or so to crack his back. His arm still ached too much to raise and his throat was too raw to speak, so whenever he had a question he would scribble it down and show it to Lily- the only one of his friends who was actually paying attention.

Everything was fine until lunch. Remus had just finished Ancient Runes with Lily while the boys were at Divination. Lily had run ahead to talk to Professor Mcgonagall about some Head Girl related business, and Remus had opted to take one of the many hidden passageways concealed in the walls to save his knees from the agony that was the stairs. The passage ended behind a suit of armor located near the dungeons, and he waited until he heard the trampede of students coming from potions class fade away. He slipped out from behind the armor in a rather ungraceful manner, and was just walking away when he was suddenly pushed to the ground from behind. He landed on his injured knee and grimaced in pain as he pushed himself up. Before he had a chance to fully rise he had been grabbed by his tie and pulled up. He stared into the loathful eyes of Wilkes and Rosier and couldn't help but notice their slightly crooked noses.

"Not so tough now, huh?" crooned Rosier. "Where's Potter and the blood traitor to protect you?" Remus couldn't even think of a witty retort today, yet alone cough it up. "Not even going to bother to defend yourself?"

Wilkes grabbed Remus's arms and pulled them behind his back, and Remus felt like his entire back was on fire. He whimpered in agony, which only made Rosier's smirk grow more smug. It wasn't until Rosier's fist collided with Remus's stomach that his legs gave out, but Wilkes held him up so Rosier could keep bashing him. Remus was doubled over and feebly attempting to escape Wilkes's iron clad grip, but trying to move just made the injuries he had acquired hurt more. but he couldn't count how many punches he had received to the stomach, how many times he had been hit in the face. He only knew that they had so far failed to break his nose, and he relished in that.

"Don't think you can just get away with what you did to us, you half blood filth," Wilkes taunted in his ear as Rosier delivered another blow "Not even going to bother to defend yourself. Wait till we're out of this school. If you see us next year, you better run… or the dark mark'll get you."

It was just then that an echo of a yell could be heard through the tunnel "Remus?"

"Fuck." Wilkes released him and Remus fell to the ground- hard. He could feel bruises on his ribs and jaw blossoming, and a trickle of blood flowed from his lips. Wilkes and Rosier ran out of the tunnel, passing the shadow of James, Sirius, and Peter.

"Over here!" Remus croaked, and the three sprinted towards him.

"Remus are you okay you're late for- bloody hell!" Sirius began until he saw Remus lying on the ground. "Those snakes I swear to god-" He fumed with anger and was about to turn around and chase after the boys when James grabbed him by his collar.

"Later Sirius, he needs to get to Pomfrey." The boys lifted him by his armpits and were begginning to stumble off

"No." Remus protested. "Just take me to the common room," he mumbled out. "I don't need to show up to afternoon classes. Teachers won't ask why."

"I don't like it, but he's right," grumbled James. "We don't want to get the professors in on this. It's our fight."

Later that night when Remus went to check in with Madam Pomfrey she looked at him suspiciously. "So what happened?" she asked as she checked over his injuries.

"Nothing. Just had to deal with a prefect matter between some students before lunch and it tired me out. I took off for my afternoon classes and wanted to sleep in my own bed. It's no big deal." He tried his hardest to keep a benign expression.

He really didn't like fibbing to Madam Pomfrey, who had been his sole confident for so many years. However, he knew that if this news got back to the staff than the Slytherins would only retaliate more. The point of Hogwarts was top learn how to use magic for when you would need it in real life, and it seemed like that time was looming nearer and nearer. Reporting a few Slytherins wouldn't stop the problem. It would just decrease the amount of time before they became You-Know-Who's soldiers. One of Remus's job as a prefect was to help keep students safe- even if that meant from themselves.

"Really? Because you reek of bruise cream and your shoulder's worse than before. There's nothing you wish to tell me?"

"Nothing at all."

Limping back to his dormitory, Remus really did feel like there was nothing to say. This was just part of a fight that had barely started, he knew there was much more to come. And he'd keep fighting.


End file.
